The Poetry of Our World: An International Anthology of Contemporary Poetry

by Carolyn Forché

Book Overview

Here is a capacious and sparkling gathering of poems, an anthology that extends its reach from the English-speaking world to Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. This unique volume includes such well-known figures as Pablo Neruda, Anna Akhmatova, Paul Celan, Seamus Heaney, Wole Soyinka, and Elizabeth Bishop but also offers the less familiar but equally welcome voices of Ugandan Okot p'Bitek, Indian A.K. Ramanujan, and the Japanese poet Shuntaro...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060951931
• ISBN13: 9780060951931
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

More Than Just A Book Of Poetry

I would like to add something rather important to the comments of other readers of this fine volume of poetry. I own three other good books of international poetry, but none of them has the special features that this one has. The book is divided up into five sections representing the major continents: English speaking world (U.S., Canada, England, and New Zealand (sorry Australia, but you aren't here), Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. At the beginning of each section there is a helpful 10 or 15 page interesting introduction to the poetry of that part of the world. In addition to that there is a brief biography that precedes almost every poet's poems. There is also an interesting introduction to the book itself. Yes, the selection is limited. There are just two U.S. poets - Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Lowell. Then again I don't buy an international book of poetry to read U.S. poets, as there are plenty of American anthologies. Philip Larkin is it for England; the usual suspects of Borges, Neruda, Paz for Latin America; Akhmatova, Celan, Herbert, Montale, and Seferis are the choices for Europe. But, it is, indeed, an interesting book. Is it accessible -meaning are these poems designed to be read by you and I, and not just other professors in MFA creative writing programs? It certainly is.

good collection of different poets

this book is a collection of contemporary (roughly the past 25 years or so) poetry from around the world. The book is divided into geographical sections (i.e. africa, europe,) and each section has a few poets and each poet has one or two poems presented. Now how you feel about this book will probably depend on how you feel about poetry, and your knowledge of poetry. I like poetry, am a casual reader of it, but really don't know anything about it. So if you are an English major with an emphasis on world poetry, you may think differently than i did! Overall i liked the book. i think that many of the poems were outstanding, i really enjoyed having one book that had such a wide variety of poets. i liked the fact that each area was introduced by an essay that helped set things in context, and most poets were introduced with the same type of essay. for a guy like me who doesn't know much about poetry, this was helpful. to sum up: if you are an english major i don't know how you will feel about this book, but if you are a casual reader of poetry who would like one book that contains poetry from around the world then i think you will like this.

Quality over breadth

For an anthology of that claims to be "the poetry of our world", this book has suprisingly few poets represented. The editors chose to include poetry from about 25 countries and mostly include poetry from only one author per country. But that is intentional: the editors wanted the quality and richness of the poetry to be the track their sled runs in. In doing so, they have succeeded in creating a collection that is bursting in energy and emotion, with poetry that is a pleasure to read and reflect on. It is a very strong anthology that is sure to finish very highly, if not win, any poetry Iditarod.

rediscovering poetry

mr. paine has accomplished something long overdue: he has taken a fresh view of poetry, not handicapped by genre or nationality, and recast it in such a way that what we read awakens us. maybe it is not too bold to suggest that the way he juxtaposes various poets reminds us that we can share a broader, inner world. he has rescued poetry from its own gnarled roots and allowed us to see the way it flowers. this is a book intended both for people with a long love affair with poetry, but also for readers who want to draw the kind of intellectual connections that literature can offer. i strongly recommend this book. it is more than a book of poetry, it is a book of ideas and passion.